30 Times When Funerals Were Too Funny Not To Laugh

But, sometimes, between the crying and the condolences, there are moments that remind us that funeralscan have a lighter side, too. We may not admit it at the time, but they can be seriously, darkly humorous — are we alone in having masked laughter as tears?

It might be an awkward mishap or some straight-up ridiculousness that makes you want to crack up in the middle of the service, but the fact that you know you shouldn't be laughing only makes it funnier.Then, of course, there are the funerals that are intentionally funny — which, amid all the pomp and circumstance, can be a major relief.

Ahead, 30 people share their funniest funeral stories — and remind us that a little dark humor can be the best way to mourn. Welcome to Death Week. This week, we'll attempt to unpack our feelings, fears, and hang-ups about death, dying, and mourning. We’ll do our best to leave no gravestone unturned.

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“At my great uncle's funeral, they played ‘Everything Is Awesome.’ It was really weird.” — shesingsinthemorning

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“We went home after my dad's funeral and at some point my mom exclaimed, ‘Oh NO! I forgot your father!’ My siblings and I figured she was having some sort of grief-confusion mental break, but apparently she had actually left the urn with all his ashes at the church.” — Amelia

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“I have a very short uncle. He went to kiss his friend on the cheek and fell into the casket. The lid closed on him and all you could see was his legs dangling from the closed casket. I don't think he ever got over that.” — mrpottermorefreak

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“At my grandpa's funeral (I was eight) my little brother ripped the loudest fart ever during the services. Out of everyone there we were the only two that laughed. I still don't see how no one but us two laughed!” — takehomemedrunkim

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“My friend's parents met at a funeral!” — Anonymous

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“A man with bagpipes walked in the door of the church. I don't know why, but it caught me off guard and I started laughing.” — Cjfee5

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“At my uncle's funeral, a cell phone went off and my uncle's friend answered it. [He] didn't leave the room, had a conversation, yelled at the person for interrupting him at a funeral. My uncle would have laughed his ass off since he doesn't care for the formality of any ceremony.” — The_Only_1

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“When my grandmother died, the old woman who sang for the funeral had bright red lipstick on. Her singing was horrendous and she had a chunk of lipstick on her front tooth. My mom and my aunts were laughing so hard but people assumed they were still sobbing. We still laugh at it to this day.” — _Alljokesaside

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“Funeral director here. [Once, I] had a long-time polka singer ask that everyone dance one last polka at his wake. So we took all the chairs out of the room, and everyone did. His sons danced with their mother/his wife.” — Reddit user

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“My grandfather (on his deathbed), just two weeks ago, arranged for his ashes to be presented to my grandmother contained in a box of cornflakes.” — maxletsos

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“My dad always wore Hawaiian shirts. It was decided for his funeral that everyone would do the same and wear a Hawaiian shirt. Not really that crazy, but it was nice and helped lighten the mood.” — SWSU

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“Before Pop died, he made sure that we knew to play Whitney Houston’s 'Simply the Best' at the end of his funeral. Everyone laughed. It was great.” — mamabelle007

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“No one prepared me at all for what to expect at the first wake I attended. After the first person got up to speak, I started clapping wildly. My sister very quickly grabbed my hands and began whisper-scolding me, while the entire group turned back to glare at me.” — Jessey

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“My father had, as his last wish, the entire funeral wake wear read noses, including myself, my brother, and my cousins who were the pallbearers, while ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ played. I carried my dad in his cardboard coffin to the hearse, wearing a bright-red clown's nose, and afterward, the six of us pallbearers smoked and remembered the man as he was, thumbing his nose at death.” — BluApples

“More embarrassing than crazy: When my Nana died, my brother debated...whether or not to take his daughter to the funeral; she was only a few months old. She was a ‘good, quiet’ baby, and a lot of family would be there who wanted to see her, so he decided to take a shot. During the graveside service, the only thing you heard was the preacher sharing a sermon and my niece ‘pushing one out.’ It took her a while, and there were a lot of grunts and gas passed in the process! My brother and I struggled tremendously to keep a straight face, and people sort of joked about it afterwards. My grandmother was a free spirit and probably wouldn't be able to stop laughing had she…been there.” — BigKiss_LittleHug

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“This actually happened to my family two weeks ago at my grandmother’s funeral. As the family, we were in the first few rows at the funeral. During the only hymn sung at the end, a woman who was EXTREMELY tone-deaf and even more loud was singing directly behind us. Now, my family is very close and we also laugh a lot with each other. I was trying desperately not to laugh, scared I would set everyone off. I loved my grandmother dearly and honestly was worried I would break down during the song, but this lady was so incredibly loud, off-key, and off-tempo, I couldn't help but laugh. So, I'm towards the front, laughing silently, with shaking shoulders. My husband notices and puts his arm around me and whispers, ‘Just pretend you’re crying,’ so I bury my face into his shoulder. [I found] out later [that] we were all struggling not to crack up. My mother (whose mother was the one [who] passed) was trying to drown her out, which only caused the woman to get louder!... To say the least, it was a mess, and pretty darn funny. I think my grandma would have found it funny too.” — MelodyLeeK

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“I was at a funeral for a friend's father a few years back when her brother's cell phone went off. [The] ringtone was a custom cut of ‘Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor.’ The idiot hit ignore, but didn't turn off his cell. His [girlfriend] called him twice more before his sister (my friend) punched him in the shoulder, grabbed his phone out of his hand, and chucked it so hard against the wall that it came apart, battery flying out and all. He yells, ‘What the FUCK?!’ at her, the room is silent for a few seconds, then the pastor continues the eulogy like nothing had happened.” — bitchandtoss

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“I've only been to a couple of funerals, but my sister always makes it awkward by going onto the podium and talking about herself for 30 minutes. It usually starts off vaguely about the deceased and then just kinda tapers off into rambling.” — Lucavious

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“As the final people showed up, everyone was seated in the main area of the funeral parlor. Small chatter slowly turned to silence as everyone waited for something to happen. Suddenly, out of the silence over the speaker system... ‘Carry on my wayward soooon / There'll be peace when you are done / Lay your weary head to rest / Don't you cry no mooooore…’ and then the whole song played. Most people were still crying but I could see a few of my relatives kind of bobbing their heads and tapping their feet to some Kansas.” — McVeeth

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“I went up to receive the body of Christ. You're supposed to say ‘amen,’ but I said ‘thanks.’ A lot more embarrassing than it sounds.” — Reddit user

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“I went to a funeral where an Elvis impersonator sang ‘There Will Be Peace in the Valley,’ full costume and all. It was awkward and hard not to laugh.” — sipaladle

“I always always get a bloody nose at funerals. Every funeral I have been to I get a bloody nose, so I always have tissues with me when I have to go to one.” — Spartan2842

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“This is my father's story: He was kneeling in the front row with his brother-in-law at said brother-in-law's father's funeral. My dad noticed that his father had a black eye and quietly asked him about it. He responded, ‘He wouldn't get in the damn box.’ He said they were both crying trying to hold in the laughter.” — Existential_Fluff

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“When my uncle passed, we took his ashes to a river he loved to fish from. My cousin was spreading the ashes and dropped the bag in the water with a huge splash. All six of us there started cracking up. My cousin said, ‘Uncle Bob would have laughed, too.'" — wisdom_failed

“I don't know what it is about funerals, but often the most unexpected and inappropriately hilarious things happen at them. At my grandpa's funeral my uncle forgot to silence his phone and got a phone call which prompted his ‘Benny Hill’ ringtone. To this day, I can't understand why nobody else thought this was funny, but that was easily one of the hardest laughs I've had in my life. I feel bad for the honor guard that was there — it had to be a hard time with that song and laughter being contagious.” — lettucent

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“At my grandmother's funeral, the priest kept calling her Shirley but her name was Maria. The seriousness of funerals makes mistakes like that so absurd, it’s hard not to laugh.” — _joy_division_

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“My great grandmother's funeral: I was a pallbearer. After we set the casket down and before it was lowered into the ground, we took off our white gloves and laid them on the casket. I still don't know how it happened, but BOTH of my gloves had the middle fingers sticking up. My cousin saw it first and I started cracking up. Within seconds about one fourth of the guests lost it, too. The rest gave us dirty looks as the casket was slowly lowered into the ground, giving us all a final ‘fuck you.’” — staciesdad